France

PARIS - Lionel Messi's sensational transfer to Paris St Germain was a surprise for everyone, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said, adding that he hopes the Argentine plays in Tuesday's Champions League group game between the two sides.

Messi joined PSG in August when he left Barcelona after the Spanish club — where he had spent his entire career — were unable to finance a new deal for the forward.

The 34-year-old suffered a knock on his left knee last week and is a doubt for the clash against the team led by his former Barça coach Guardiola.

Samir Nasri, now 34 and without a club since briefly playing for Vincent Kompany’s Anderlecht in 2019, has announced his retirement after a mercurial career that included two Premier League titles, 41 caps for France, an international retirement at the age of 27 and one trip to the Drip Doctors in Los Angeles.

PARIS — Lionel Messi is suffering from bone bruising, the Ligue 1 club said on Tuesday, and will miss Paris Saint-Germain's trip to Metz on Wednesday.

"Lionel Messi, following the knock received on his left knee, has undergone an MRI this morning which confirms the signs of bone contusion, a new assessment will be made in 48 hours," PSG said in a statement.

The dust has settled on the biggest transfer of the 2021 summer window, when Lionel Messi — the six-time world men’s player of the year — finally left Barcelona and joined Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer. Despite being 34, the Messi PSG contract money speaks to his continued standing as world’s best footballer.

Mauricio Pochettino is in the headlines after he made the bold decision to substitute Lionel Messi during Paris Saint-Germain’s tight 2-1 victory against Lyon on Sunday. How many times has Messi been subbed you might ask? Almost never.

With the scored tied at 1-1 Pochettino felt that taking Messi out of the game would help his side. 

Messi after being subbed off pic.twitter.com/AxIE7EmhC4

Ligue 1 club RC Lens will play two home games behind closed doors pending an investigation into the crowd trouble that marred Saturday's derby against Lille, the league's disciplinary committee said on Monday.

Lens will host Strasbourg on Wednesday and Stade de Reims on Oct. 1, with a decision on the incident to be rendered on Oct. 6, the statement added.

The kickoff to the second half of the Ligue 1 game, which Lens won 1-0, was delayed by about half an hour after crowd trouble erupted at halftime.

LENS, France — A second-half goal from Przemyslaw Frankowski earned RC Lens their first victory over Lille in 15 years as they moved up to provisional second place in Ligue 1 with a 1-0 win after a derby marred by crowd trouble on Saturday.

Frankowski's strike ended a 12-game winless streak for Lens against the French champions, who had beaten them 4-0 and 3-0 last season.

The result put the "Sang et Or" (Blood and Gold) on 12 points from six games, three behind Paris St Germain, who will play their match in hand at home against Olympique Lyonnais on Sunday.

In the annals of soccer history, you have to pick from some of the greatest teams of all time to find a front three that compares to the PSG lineup Mauricio Pochettino chose on Wednesday. For the first time, he was able to field Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, the much-hyped MNM trio.

The vaunted PSG lineup didn’t last long nor did it impress on the road at Club Brugge. The star forwards went scoreless as Paris Saint-Germain was held to a stunning 1-1 draw by the Belgian side. Club Brugge looked far more exciting on offense, outshooting PSG 16-9 (7-4 on target).